bajalera - 11-17-2003 at 07:26 PM
So here we are again, deja-viewing those intrepid South Sea voyagers as they wade ashore in the Cape Region, destined to provide the Pericu with some
really interesting ancestors. The idea of Melanesian immigration first appeared in print 94 years ago, and was a welcome alternative to the Pericu's
own how-we-got-here story, which was about as blah and ordinary as you could get.
They told Jesuit missionaries their ancestors came from the north, and had been forced into the southernmost mountains and outlying islands by more
aggressive people who arrived later from the same direction. Padre Miguel del Barco, who lived on the peninsula from 1738 to 1768, thought it strange
that the Pericu weren't ashamed of being descended from fleeing cowards--"it being just as easy to pretend to be sons of the more valiant and
valorous." (That, now, was a realistic priest.)
The evidence presented in 1909 for migration from Melanesian islands, which lie north and east of Australia and south of the Equator, was based mainly
on material that had been collected from burial caves in Baja California.
What we're talking here, basically, are skulls, which in those days had way more significnce than they do now. Anthropologists were still struggling
to have their field of study (the origins and activities of humans) accepted as legitimate science--and bones, unlilke religious beliefs and rites of
passage--could be measured, counted, classified, and converted into graphs and charts (real scientific stuff!). Skulls were considered particularly
important, because it was widely believed that their size and shape determined the intelligence of the brains they contained (a view not totally
jettisoned until the 1950s).
Early Investigations
Collecting specimens was a big deal in the North American West during the late 1800s--vast expanses of this sparsely settled part of the United States
and Mexico had yet to be seriously explored. Museums and other learning centers welcomed the contributions of some resourceful people--physically and
intellectually active men, and an occasional woman--who poked about in remote places in the role of "naturalist." They sent specimens of plant and
animal life--and, more rarely, human remains--to institutions where specialists could study them.
Some unusual discoveries were made by four collectors who cam to the peninsula by boat, then set out afoot or on riding animals in search of whatever.
Lyman Belding, interested mainly in birds, and plant explorer Edward Palmer were Americans. Dr. Herman ten Kate ["KAH-tay"] was an anthropologist (one
of few collectors with an advanced degree). French chemist Leon Diguet, who initially came to Santa Rosalia as an assayer for the Boleo copper mines,
developed interests and capabilities extending far beyond his day job, evolving into a first-rate researcher (sort of an early-day Harry Crosby,
though not nearly as prolific a writer).
In shallow caves of the peninsula's south and adjacent islands, these investigators discovered some unusual secondary burials. The bones had been
painted with red ochre, and the skulls were hyperdolichocephalic, meaning very longheaded. Ten Kate and Diguet sent their collections to the Museum of
Natural History in Paris, where they were analyzed by anthropologist Paul Rivet, who was also given access to the material Belding and Palmer has
deposited at the National Museum in Washington, D.C.
Coming up next (unless Part 1 disappears into thin air instead of getting posted):
Dr. Paul Rivet Has His Say.
Great stuff Bajalera
Ski Baja - 11-17-2003 at 08:46 PM
Please keep it coming. And, are you doing the research and writing of this info ?
David K - 11-17-2003 at 08:50 PM
Thanks for posting this! If Von Daniken were around, I bet he would say ancient astronauts transplanted the islanders to Baja (the center of the
universe, in my opinion)! Bajalera, check your U2U...
bajalera - 11-18-2003 at 08:07 AM
No, JR, I have 4 research assistants, 2 secretaries and a ghost writer, whom I was lucky enough to hire when Martha Stewart downsized.
Staff
Ski Baja - 11-18-2003 at 09:41 AM
Your a regular "scientific expedition"!
Pericu and Polynesia?
academicanarchist - 11-18-2003 at 10:52 AM
There is also archaeological evidence to support the Pericu origin myth, which while boring, amy also correspond to reality. I would like to learn
more about the evidence, and particularly the date of the physical remains. However, I will say from the beginning of this discussion that the
characterization of different ethnic groups based on skull configuration is tainted by the pseudo-scientific racial theories of the late 19th and
early 20th centuries that gave rise to early physical anthropology. Moreover, there are numerous theories about non-Native Americans landing prior to
1492, and giving rise to native culture, which is a racist construct that assumes that Native Americans were not capable of creating advanced
cultures, etc. There has been considerable scholarly debate about the characterization of Native American culture by people like Mooney, who viewed
the survivors of societies that had been systematically destroyed over 400 years. I will be a doubting Robert, but will not prejudge the evidence.